Thai employees ousted at firm in Cambodia

BANGKOK, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Thai nationals working for a Cambodian air traffic control firm were suspended after one of them was charged with spying, officials said.

A Cambodian was placed in charge of the Thai-owned and operated Cambodia Air Traffic Services in the latest diplomatic flare-up between the two countries following a visit to Cambodia by fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the BBC reported Thursday.

Cambodian officials said the action was temporary, pending the outcome of the legal case against the engineer accused of providing Thaksin's travel schedule to a Thai diplomat.

Thaksin was in Cambodia for five days last week as an economic adviser, the BBC said. His presence in Cambodia angered Thai government officials, who said he should have been extradited to serve a two-year jail term.

The former Thai prime minister was ousted in a coup in 2006, and later found guilty in absentia on conflict-of-interest.